John Swinney could learn a thing or two from Bob Geldof's approach

I don’t see Bob Geldof much on telly these days and it was so refreshing to hear his brutal honesty again, delivered in his own inimitable aggressive style, but for me in a likeable way. Unlike the aggressive commentators on the right such as the awful Mike Parry and Carole Malone on the popular Jeremy Vine show on Channel 5, Bob’s targets are always the powerful, and as far as I’ve witnessed, never the vulnerable, like with that lot!

I found online that three years ago, during a discussion on the Jeremy Vine show about climate protesters blocking part of the M25, Parry stated: “The problem in this country in all areas is that minorities always get the upper hand because we’re so tolerant, and minorities have to be squashed like that ... [at that point, Parry slammed his hand on the desk, as if he was squashing a fly!] so the rest of society can operate normally.”

This, quite rightly, led to Ofcom receiving more than 300 complaints about Parry’s comment. It’s not just Parry, though – on a daily basis, folk with pretty extreme right-wing views are regularly spouting their bile on popular “non-political” shows on telly or radio. It’s very rare, for example, to hear from commentators with pro-Jeremy Corbyn type views (or our very own Colin Fox of the Scottish Socialist Party for that matter), apart from the Greens occasionally.

Extreme right-wing folk are therefore just hunky dory and plentiful! Their counterparts on the left are like the proverbial hen’s teeth! As for Scottish pro-independence voices? Forget it! We are well and truly cancelled by all and sundry on such telly programmes!

Gerry Hassan wrote an excellent and insightful piece in the Sunday National (November 24) titled “The battle for our future”. He addresses the forces assailing Britain that could see the collapse of the Labour Government, the rise of the hard right and a geopolitical storm – none of which independence supporters can ignore.

I think what I’m trying to say, therefore, is that, related to Gerry’s dire warning, there are loads of folk throughout Scotland who are wholly understandably turned off by politics, but watch these programmes on telly, like Jeremy Vine. I’m afraid to say that some of them might start to think, after being bombarded with these right-wing views on their telly, “I’ve voted SNP, then switched to Labour, but I still don’t feel any better off. Maybe these Reform UK guys have got a point! I think I’ll give them a go next time!”

If that’s the case, it’s so bloody depressing! Come on John Swinney (above) and your colleagues! It’s time to get aggressive – maybe in a Bob Geldof type of way – with all your opponents. Why not? I don’t think there is much to lose now. Fortune favours brave Scots!
Ivor Telfer
Dalgety Bay, Fife

SINCE the Israeli offensive in Gaza began in October 2023, members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have tried introducing resolutions calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza. However, these efforts have been repeatedly blocked by the US.

Since the war began, Washington, which shields Israel from UN action, has blocked four different resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Additionally, the US has blocked a resolution aimed at recognising Palestine as a full member of the UN.

The US has used its veto power 49 times against draft Security Council resolutions pertaining to Israel since it first began using it in 1970. The US has opposed an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, for all parties to comply with international law, immediate access to humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza.

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The US voted down all efforts while the 14 other members of the council voted in favour.

As one of the supporters of the idea of a country for Jews, the US has never backed international law when it comes to Israel’s illegal actions – detention without trial, mass bombings of civilians, annexing territory, illegal settlers, Jewish-only areas, separate laws for non-Jews, an apartheid wall, forbidding non-Jews freedom of movement, starvation as an act of war, etc etc etc.

PS: If you think Joe Biden was bad, just wait!
B McKenna
Dumbarton

MAKE America Great Again is starting to grate already.
Richard Easson
Dornoch

I READ Lucy Jackson’s article on the dead eagle in Dumfries and Galloway. A few years ago when I was sitting in traffic waiting for a wind turbine convoy to pass me at Forres, I noticed when the truck came past me at low speed that the turbine blade tip was serrated. This can only be for one reason – to prevent damage to the blade by killing the bird in flight – so it doesn’t surprise me that the eagle was cut in half.
David Grieve
via email

IN response to Andy Anderson’s letter on November 27, I have to say he is right regarding my frustration.

I agree the ICCPR is open to us and should be rushed into Scots law.

However, as I write, people in Westminster will be planning to close that door quietly while nobody is looking.

Ever sadder is the SNP’s complete lack of interest. They know why their support has fallen yet have no desire to “be the ones” for Scotland.

I wish they would be honest about it and tell us now.
Bill Robertson
via email

NEAL Ascherson’s article in the Sunday National (November 24) is a persuasive argument for the SNP and the wider independence movement to stop worrying about frightening the middle-class horses and openly embrace a more egalitarian, left-wing stance. His article is just one of so many we have seen in The National calling for a decisive move to the left – Tommy Sheppard, George Kerevan, Ruth Wishart, Mike Small, Richard Murphy, Gregor Gall, Richard Walker, every Green-Party contributor, every Scottish Socialist Party columnist and swathes of letter-pages writers have put forward similar arguments. Poll after poll shows the Scottish population favouring redistributive policies, and across the whole of the UK, the democratic-socialist policies advocated by Jeremy Corbyn command majority support as long as they are not attached to his name.

There seems to be a fear that support for independence would be lost in the rural areas of the north and north-west if a full-throated appeal to socialist principles was adopted. However, the safe centrist politics of the SNP over the past few years have not returned the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway or swathes of the north-east to the SNP fold.

(Image: PA)

The rural areas which have continued to support the SNP owe much to the personal influence and appeal of individuals such as Kate Forbes (above) and Fergus Ewing. Their right-of-centre politics do no not trump their commitment to an independent Scotland and have weathered the slump in support for the SNP.

I can’t imagine Kate Forbes abandoning the SNP if the party adopted a policy of nationalising mail and energy in an independent Scotland. And I dispute that there are not a lot of people in the Highlands, islands and border lands who hold dear the idea of a society of greater equality than what prevails in the quasi-feudal world of land-ownership which blights so much of these regions.

Without winning the cities, the central belt and Fife, there is no chance of securing a majority for independence. And these areas are overwhelmingly amenable to the long, noble tradition of Scottish support for the fairness and egalitarianism of left-wing politics. There is no chance of the Daily Mail, the Express (and probably the Record and the BBC) ever being persuaded to be even-handed on the independence issue.

They already scream that the SNP are extremists and obsessives so, as the saying goes, as well hung for a sheep as a lamb. Let’s be as radical as they claim.

Let’s propose taxing the rich until the pips squeak, let’s declare that large land-holdings in an independent Scotland will be taken into common ownership, let’s promise a minimum wage of £15 an hour, public ownership of every utility, renewable energy prices at a quarter of the present gas-linked rate, and a doubling of the state pension. Let’s advocate a future that will drive right-wing zealots like Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage into apoplexy and Keir Starmer into openly declaring his aversion to socialism.

Maybe not all of this is realisable, but it’s the goal and vision which is important in inspiring people. Currently, many are recognising their own exploitation and understanding that so-called moderate centrism is just a way of preserving the status quo.

The shouty right is harnessing this disaffection and the many valid grievances but offering a snake-oil, vindictive extremism as the solution – witness Donald Trump, Brexit and the pathological Tory anti-immigrant bile. The left has to become more radical and ignore accusations of being communistic, terrorist-supporting, envious haters. We must embrace our dreams of a fairer society, not apologise for them.

I know I am not alone in thinking that the cautious restraint of the current SNP leadership and government has dulled Scottish optimism. Electoral analysis shows it has affected hundreds of thousands of previous SNP voters as indicated by them staying at home on election days. We need something stirring, we need a radicalism of equality to motivate that half of the population which already supports independence and to inspire that substantial chunk of those who don’t support it but are attracted to ideas of fairness and equality.

John Swinney is one of the nicest men you could ever meet. I once heard Margo MacDonald, who was ultra-scathing of almost the entire SNP leadership, say that John was the most decent man in Holyrood and that she had a lot of time for him.

However, she was also clear that his emollient and principled preference for compromise and engagement with reactionary Tories was never going to win our independence. In the present day, when a toxic mix of polarisation and disengagement offer opportunities for right-wing bigots and authoritarians, we need to adopt a radicalism of decency, fairness and equality – an uncompromising declaration that the rich must relinquish their unfair hoarding of wealth and power.

This is no time for Neville Chamberlains, appeasement or bowing to faraway governments with agendas that work to our detriment.

I’m with all those aforementioned writers who argue that unashamed socialism is the way to galvanise the cause of independence. And, like Neal Ascherson and the legendary John Maclean, I agree that civil and institutional disobedience are morally and practically justified when the law is rigged against you and powerful interests propagandise against your own nation’s democratic and ethical beliefs.
Dr David White
Galashiels